Tag Archive | "ignition switch"

DETROIT – The number of approved death compensation claims related to a recall of a faulty General Motors ignition switch has risen to 90, reported MLive.

The claims were approved by a fund set up by GM to compensate victims of a defective part in mid-to-late-2000s model cars that has led to a massive recall and a federal investigation.

The number of approved claims stood at 19 in mid-September and had grown steadily to 36 at the beginning of December and then to 42 in January. They hit 57 in February, reached 77 last month, and stood at 87 at the end of last week.

The victim compensation fund is being overseen by Kenneth Feinberg, a Washington, D.C. attorney who oversaw similar compensation facilities for disasters such as the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The GM ignition switch claims facility released its latest report Friday.

The deadline to file claims was Jan. 31. New claims cannot be submitted, but the facility is still accepting the electronic filing of supporting documents for existing claims.

The latest tally of claims received stands at 4,342, including 475 death claims, 289 “Category One” injury claims, or those resulting in quadriplegia, paraplegia, double amputation, permanent brain damage or pervasive burns, and 3,578 “Category Two” injury claims, or injuries that required a hospital visit within 48 hours of an accident.

Those numbers have remained unchanged for the past several weeks.

To date, there have been 253 claims determined eligible, a rise of nine claims over the past week. That total includes the 90 death claims, as well as 11 Category One injury claims and 152 Category Two claims.

According to the claims resolution facility’s program statistics, 1,420 claims have been deemed ineligible, an increase from 1,335 claims in last week’s report, while 1,181 claims are considered deficient, versus 1,141 in the last report. Another 997 remain under review, down from 1,085 in the previous report, and 491 claims have been submitted with no documentation.

GM has estimated that compensating all victims of the defective car part could cost the Detroit automaker anywhere from $400-600 million.

GM has recalled 2.6 million vehicles, including 2.2 million in the U.S., affected by the ignition switch. The recall includes 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2007-2010 Saturn Skys, 2005-2011 Chevrolet HHRs, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstices, and 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models.

The faulty ignition switches at the heart of the unprecedented recall can move out of the “run” position to the “accessory” or “off” positions, leading to a loss of power. The risk may be increased if the key ring is carrying added weight or if the vehicle goes off road or experiences some jarring event, including rough roads. If the key turns to one of those positions, officials say the front air bags may not work if there’s a crash.

DETROIT – The number of approved death compensation claims related to a recall of a faulty General Motors ignition switch has risen to 77, reported MLive.

The claims were approved by a fund set up by GM to compensate victims of a defective part in mid-to-late-2000s model cars that has led to a massive recall and a federal investigation.

The number of approved claims stood at 19 in mid-September and had grown steadily to 36 at the beginning of December and then to 42 in the middle of last month. They hit 57 last month, and reached 64 earlier this month.

The victim compensation fund is being overseen by Kenneth Feinberg, a Washington, D.C. attorney who oversaw similar compensation facilities for disasters such as the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The GM ignition switch claims facility released its latest report Friday.

The deadline to file claims was Jan. 31. New claims cannot be submitted, but the facility is still accepting the electronic filing of supporting documents for existing claims.

The latest tally of claims received stands at 4,342, including 475 death claims, 289 “Category One” injury claims, or those resulting in quadriplegia, paraplegia, double amputation, permanent brain damage or pervasive burns, and 3,578 “Category Two” injury claims, or injuries that required a hospital visit within 48 hours of an accident.

To date, there have been 218 claims determined eligible, including the 77 death claims, as well as 11 Category One injury claims and 130 Category Two claims.

According to the claims resolution facility’s program statistics, 1,173 claims have been deemed ineligible, while 1,042 are deficient and 1,263 are under review. Another 646 claims remain submitted with no documentation.

GM has estimated that compensating all victims of the defective car part could cost the Detroit automaker anywhere from $400-600 million.

GM has recalled 2.6 million vehicles, including 2.2 million in the U.S., affected by the ignition switch. The recall includes 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2007-2010 Saturn Skys, 2005-2011 Chevrolet HHRs, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstices, and 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models.

The faulty ignition switches at the heart of the unprecedented recall can move out of the “run” position to the “accessory” or “off” positions, leading to a loss of power. The risk may be increased if the key ring is carrying added weight or if the vehicle goes off road or experiences some jarring event, including rough roads. If the key turns to one of those positions, officials say the front air bags may not work if there’s a crash.

DETROIT – General Motors CEO Mary Barra will be questioned this fall by lawyers suing GM over its defective ignition switches, reported MLive.

Barra is one of 35 current and former GM employees who will be questioned, attorney Bob Hilliard said Thursday. The depositions begin May 6 with the questioning of GM customer experience chief Alicia Boler-Davis. Barra’s deposition, scheduled for Oct. 8, would be the last.

Hilliard sued GM last July on behalf of people who were injured or killed in crashes allegedly caused by faulty ignition switches. A trial is scheduled for January 2016 in U.S. District Court in New York.

The switches could slip into the “off” position, disabling power steering and air bags. The lawsuit alleges GM knew about the defective switches as early as 2001 but didn’t recall any cars until last year.

Barra told Congress she learned about the defective switches in December 2013, a month before GM began recalling 2.6 million affected vehicles.

GM has already admitted violating the law, paying a $35 million fine and agreeing to strict federal oversight.

It has also paid undisclosed settlements to the families of 67 people killed in crashes caused by the switches as part of a compensation fund overseen by Kenneth Feinberg. The fund has also compensated 113 people injured in crashes.

The plaintiffs represented by Hilliard are not part of that settlement process.

GM and its employees could also face separate criminal charges as a result of an ongoing Justice Department investigation.

DETROIT – The number of approved death compensation claims related to a recall of a faulty General Motors ignition switch has risen to 74, reported MLive.

The claims were approved by a fund set up by GM to compensate victims of a defective part in mid-to-late-2000s model cars that has led to a massive recall and a federal investigation.

The number of approved claims stood at 19 in mid-September and had grown steadily to 36 at the beginning of December and then to 42 in the middle of last month. They hit 57 last month, and reached 64 earlier this month.

The victim compensation fund is being overseen by Kenneth Feinberg, a Washington, D.C. attorney who oversaw similar compensation facilities for disasters such as the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The GM ignition switch claims facility released its latest report Friday.

The deadline to file claims was Jan. 31. New claims cannot be submitted, but the facility is still accepting the electronic filing of supporting documents for existing claims.

The latest tally of claims received stands at 4,342, including 475 death claims, 289 “Category One” injury claims, or those resulting in quadriplegia, paraplegia, double amputation, permanent brain damage or pervasive burns, and 3,578 “Category Two” injury claims, or injuries that required a hospital visit within 48 hours of an accident.

To date, there have been 200 claims determined eligible, including the 74 death claims, as well as 11 Category One injury claims and 115 Category Two claims.

According to the claims resolution facility’s program statistics, 1,025 claims have been deemed ineligible, while 1,075 are deficient and 1,326 are under review. Another 716 claims remain submitted with no documentation.

GM has estimated that compensating all victims of the defective car part could cost the Detroit automaker anywhere from $400-600 million.

GM has recalled 2.6 million vehicles, including 2.2 million in the U.S., affected by the ignition switch. The recall includes 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2007-2010 Saturn Skys, 2005-2011 Chevrolet HHRs, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstices, and 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models.

The faulty ignition switches at the heart of the unprecedented recall can move out of the “run” position to the “accessory” or “off” positions, leading to a loss of power. The risk may be increased if the key ring is carrying added weight or if the vehicle goes off road or experiences some jarring event, including rough roads. If the key turns to one of those positions, officials say the front air bags may not work if there’s a crash.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling 702,578 SUVs and minivans to fix defective ignition switches that can unexpectedly turn off the engine, according to documents posted Friday by U.S. safety regulators, reported Reuters.

The recall covers Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country minivans from 2008 to 2010 model years and Dodge Journey SUVs from 2009 to 2010.

The automaker is advising customers to remove all items from their key rings, leaving only the ignition key, until the switches can be fixed. If there is a key fob, it should also be removed, Fiat Chrysler said in documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The company said road conditions or a jarring event may cause the ignition switch to move into the off or accessory position, turning off the engine and disabling the air bags, power steering and power brakes.

Fiat Chrysler said it expects to begin replacing the defective ignition switches for the 2008-2009 minivans and SUVs in April and the 2010 vehicles in August.

Some of the vehicles had previously been recalled for the same issue.

General Motors experienced a similar ignition switch problem and recalled 2.6 million small cars last year. At least 57 people were killed and more than 90 injured in crashes linked to the defective GM switches.

The Jan. 31 deadline for claims to General Motors’ victim compensation fund spurred a flurry of 1,100 new filings, reported The Detroit Bureau.

The rush brought the total number of filings to 4,180, including 455 death benefits: an increase from 338 the week prior. Claims for the most severe injuries rose to 278, up from 224 a week earlier, and filings for less severe injuries jumped to 3,447 from 2,508 a week earlier.

The fund is administered by Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney whose firm oversaw similar funds related to the BP oil spill and other issues, who said in a radio interview yesterday that he expects the total number of filings to rise a bit more because any claims post marked for Jan. 31 will be accepted.

Last week, two U.S. Senators – Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) – asked GM to extend the deadline because they believed the claimants did not have enough information to make a decision on whether or not to file. The automaker declined. It would have been the second extension of the deadline as Feinberg convinced the company to extend the original Dec. 31 deadline by a month.

Feinberg said he believed the second extension was unnecessary and if someone didn’t know about about the deadline they were “living under a rock.” Georgia attorney Lance Cooper, whose firm submitted 45 claims to the fund, including 20 for deaths, told the Detroit News he felt the number of lawsuits agains the automaker would rise because the of the failure to extend the deadline. Cooper believes potential claimants should have had a year to file.

The lawsuits may come anyway. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court is considering allowing suits to be filed against the automaker, which was formed out of bankruptcy, despite the new company’s liability shield. The company is not using the shield against those who filed claims with the fund.

Thus far, Feinberg and his team have approved death benefits for 51 people, which is up from the initial 13 deaths attributed to the problem. There also have been eight claims for serious injuries approved and 69 for lesser injuries. The amount of the benefit varies upon the circumstances, but each death benefit recipient receives at least $1 million.

The fund, which could pay out as much as $600 million, was established by GM last year for victims and their families who were killed or injured as a result of the company’s faulty ignition switches. The switches could toggle out of the “run” mode in to “accessory” mode cutting off the vehicle’s power steering and brakes as well as shutting off its airbags.

Ultimately, GM recalled nearly 2.6 million of the vehicles – some of which were a decade old – last year and made multiple appearances before Congressional committees and is subject to a variety of lawsuits as well as an investigation by the Justice Department.

A federal bankruptcy court is deciding whether to let claims proceed. General Motors Co., which was formed in a government-sponsored sale of assets from its predecessor’s 2009 bankruptcy reorganization, has said it will not invoke its bankruptcy liability shield in the case of injuries or deaths to avoid paying claims, but is fighting other claims made by owners of vehicles for economic losses.

A hearing is set for Feb. 17 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on the issue. If GM wins, victims of crashes before the restructuring likely could not sue GM.